The disclosure of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/878,897, filed Jun. 28, 2004 is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
During the manufacture and assembly of vehicles, it is often necessary to perform certain operations with the vehicle body and doors assembled. Automated application of sealer to body joints and door joints and painting of the vehicle are examples of such operations. Concurrent door and body painting provides uniform color and quality between the body and doors. During the sealing and painting operations, the vehicle door must be opened and closed numerous times. Because the painting, etc. is often performed by automated systems, position and repeatability of locating the doors is of primary importance.
Door hinges used on the finished vehicle may also be used during these intermediate assembly steps such as painting. However, the permanent door checking devices used on the finished vehicle typically are not in place during these intermediate steps because they can be damaged by the harsh environment in paint operations (ovens, paint, use of electrostatic equipment, solvents, and/or preparatory cleaners). As a substitute, temporary door checking devices are used to hold doors in desired positions during these intermediate steps. Typically, a temporary checking device is affixed to the door and vehicle body before the operation begins and removed after the operation is complete and often reused. The temporary checking device may be positioned at the same location in which the permanent door checking device used on the finished vehicle will be placed.
Because most temporary checking devices are self contained, requiring nothing except a place to be mounted, they tend to be relatively complex and time consuming to install and remove. This increases overall vehicle manufacturing costs. What is desired is a temporary checking device that works in conjunction with elements already in place on the vehicle, the temporary checking device being simple and easily installed and removed.